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The Cthulhu Mythos
The Cthulhu Mythos is the name for a body of work set in motion by H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft's stories (often called "weird fiction" or "Lovecraftian fiction") featured strange deities from beyond the stars that painted a very bleak view of humanity. The ability of humans to fight against the Great Old Ones or the Outer Gods was slim to none. Despite this, Lovecraft's stories became more popular and other authors contributed to the loose shared universe (named after the short story "Call of Cthulhu"). Lovecraft's stories rarely shared the same creatures, but there were references to the same things (like the Necronomicon and Miskatonic University), so it could be inferred they took place in the same world. Influence on the Fear Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a big influence on the Fear Mythos, especially the later comic book series Fall of Cthulhu, which served as the inspiration for The Great Game. Two specific works that take much from the Cthulhu Mythos are In The Shuffling Madness, which is similar to the Cthulhu Mythos in terms of mood, atmosphere, and themes, and Mephi, which actually combines the two Mythoi into a single continuity and uses elements from both. Many entities from the Cthulhu Mythos also play a significant role throughout OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING. List of Lovecraft Mythos Entities Great Old Ones The Great Old Ones are not true gods, but alien beings from the outer reaches of reality whose very nature makes them practically omnipotent in comparison to us. They are, essentially, Sufficiently Advanced Aliens. Lovecraft himself only created the most famous of the Great Old Ones, Cthulhu. The rest of them were added to the mythos later by various other authors. *'Cthulhu': One of the Old Ones, Cthulhu and his spawn are semi-aquatic creatures which are neither fully matter nor energy and ruled Earth in aeons past. They wait in the sunken city of Rl'yeh, neither dead nor alive, waiting for the stars to align so that they can return and rule over the world once more in an orgy of ecstasy, madness, and destruction. He is described as a hundred meter tall caricature of human form with the head of an octopus, scaly skin, huge claws on his hind and fore feet, and a pair of dragon-like wings. *'Ghatanothoa': The first-born spawn of Cthulhu, Ghatanothoa is a massive, amorphous mass which is so hideous that any who look upon it are instantly petrified but remain fully aware of their surroundings. It is currently imprisoned under Mount Yaddith-Gho in the sunken continent of Mu. *'Yig': A serpent-god who can take many forms, Yig formerly ruled over the American continents with an army of followers kept in line by his snake-minions. *'Hastur': Also known as The Unspeakable One and Him Who Is Not to be Named, Hastur is quite possibly the least understood of the Great Old Ones. Originally described as a benign patron of shepherds, he would later be associated with more negative concepts like decadence and nihilism. He is commonly described as a memetic entity or virus that infects the minds of anyone who learns his name, sees The Yellow Sign, or is exposed to The King in Yellow, a play that renders anyone who reads it completely insane. Because of this, Hastur has been portrayed as a person, a place, an object, and a deity. He is also connected to Carcosa, a mysterious and possibly cursed ancient city located near the shores of Lake Hali in the Hyades star cluster. His most well know avatar is The King in Yellow, a tall masked "man-thing" with wings wearing yellow rags. Outer Gods The Outer Gods are true gods, forces of the universe given shape. They are all omnipotent, or so very nearly so as to make no difference to us. Against them, no defense is possible. *'Azathoth': The blind mad idiot god that dwells at the center of creation, Azathoth is depicted in Lovecraft's works as omnipotent but mindless, the most powerful of the Outer Gods, the ruler of all creation and the source from which everything in the universe flows. *'Nyarlathotep': The "soul of the Outer Gods", Nyarlathotep is the only one that might be considered truly conscious and sapient. While the other Outer Gods have, for the most part, no interest in mortal beings (save when they are invoked or summoned by their cults), Nyarlathotep is not only aware of mortal life, but entirely malevolent towards it. As the soul of the Outer Gods, Nyarlathotep is the one who controls the rest. Whenever an Outer God takes an active hand in the lives of mortals, it is Nyarlathotep pulling the strings. *'Shub-Niggurath': The Black Goat of the Woods With a Thousand Young, Shub-Niggurath is the ultimate incarnation of growth, birth, and fertility, dedicated only to birthing its hideous young and spreading them across all of reality. She is said to appear as an enormous cloudy mass which extrudes black tentacles, slime-dripping mouths, and short, writhing goat legs. The figurehead of her earthly cults is The Black Goat, a male goat which might be an incarnation of Shub-Niggurath she assumes to copulate with her worshipers. *'Yog-Sothoth': Yog-Sothoth is existence itself, coterminous with our reality and yet locked outside it. It is described as the Lurker at the Threshold, The Way and The Key, and The Beyond One. Other Creatures A wide variety of less powerful creatures also exist in the Cthulhu Mythos universe. This includes anything from strange monsters to extraterrestrial species, mutants, and biological experiments. Like the supposed deities many of these creatures worship, their morality is completely alien and foreign from a human perspective. *'Deep Ones': A race of intelligent ocean-dwelling human-shaped creatures with fish or amphibian-like traits. Despite being indigenous to the deepest parts of Earth's oceans (hence their name), they are capable of surviving on land for extended periods of time. Deep Ones have an affinity for mating with humans, creating hybrid offspring that appear normal for most of their lives before gradually becoming more fish-like with age. They live in the undersea metropolis of Y'ha-nthlei, where they worship Dagon and his consort Hydra, two aquatic deities who might be overgrown Deep Ones that have ruled their smaller brethren for centuries. *'Mi-go': An extraterrestrial species from the planet Yuggoth. The Mi-go are pinkish, fungoid, crustacean-like lifeforms with large claws, a pair of membranous wings, and heads covered in antennae. They are a highly technologically advanced race, especially in the field of neuroscience as seen by their ability to transport humans from Earth to Yuggoth by removing their brains and placing it in a device called a "brain cylinder". *'Shoggoths': Massive amorphous creatures with gelatinous flesh that can shape-shift into any form they find useful for the task at hand. They were genetically-engineered by The Elder Things as an insentient servant race and were mainly used in underwater construction. After aeons of servitude they gained consciousness and revolted against their masters. Though rare today, some Shoggoths have managed to survive in certain regions of Antarctica and the deepest parts of the sea. *'Ghouls': Cannibalistic nocturnal creatures found in the subterranean regions of the Dreamlands, Ghouls are hairless monsters with long canine muzzles. They have white or green skin, pointed ears, and clawed feet that have almost become hooves. Ghouls live in underground tunnels and crypts, and eat human corpses. Despite their preferred food, they are not typically hostile, and have sometimes even helped humans. Some Ghouls were once humans that were mutated into horrific bestial humanoids. *'Nightgaunts': A species of flying, vaguely humanoid creatures native to the Dreamlands, Nightgaunts are slender, black-skinned, and faceless. They sport a pair of curving horns, a long barbed tail, and two leathery bat-like wings. Nightgaunts are the servants of the Celtic god Nodens and the guardians of the extinct volcano Ngranek on the Isle of Oriab. They sometimes capture climbers and "tickle" them into submission. Gallery DarkShadows Azathoth.jpg|Azathoth drawn by DarkShadows DarkShadows Gate and Key.jpg|Yog-Sothoth drawn by DarkShadows DarkShadows Nephren-Ka The Coming Forth.jpg|Nyarlathotep drawn by DarkShadows DarkShadows Cthulhu Under R'lyeh.jpg|Cthulhu drawn by DarkShadows DarkShadows Emperor and Empire.jpg|Hastur drawn by DarkShadows DarkShadows Screaming Yellow Madness.jpg|The King in Yellow drawn by DarkShadows DarkShadows Dagon.jpg|Dagon drawn by DarkShadows DarkShadows Deep One Looking Eastward.jpg|A Deep One drawn by DarkShadows DarkShadows As Above So Below.jpg|A Deep One priest drawn by DarkShadows DarkShadows The Brain Stealer.jpg|A Mi-go drawn by DarkShadows DarkShadows Shoggoth in Mist.jpg|A Shoggoth drawn by DarkShadows DarkShadows Pickman's Model.jpg|A Ghoul drawn by DarkShadows DarkShadows Night Gaunt.jpg|A Nightgaunt drawn by DarkShadows Azathoth-0.jpg|Azathoth drawn by YpsiFang Cthulhu.jpg|Cthulhu drawn by YpsiFang Cthulhu-0.jpg|Cthulhu drawn by YpsiFang Dagon.jpg|Dagon drawn by YpsiFang Azathoth 2.jpg|Azathoth drawn by YpsiFang Category:Outer Ideas Category:Mephi Category:OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING